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This Affordable Turntable Can Breathe New Life Into Both Your Vinyl and CD Collections

It caters to both nostalgia and new-age hi-fi.

Black turntable with a vinyl record labeled "PHILIPS" on it, featuring a tonearm and cartridge positioned near the edge of the record. The turntable has control buttons including "PHONES," "BT OUT," and play/pause icons on its glossy surface.Philips

By Tucker Bowe

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Philips is returning to the hi-fi scene with the launch of two new products: a turntable and a pair of wireless active speakers. Both promise to be relatively affordable.

The turntable, in particular, is quite interesting because it’s probably unlike any turntable you’ve seen before. Why? It plays physical media formats other than just vinyl.

Philips Fidelio FT1

Black Philips turntable with a transparent dust cover open, featuring a digital clock display on the front panel, a tonearm, and control buttons on the right side.
The Fidelio FT1 is a belt-driven turntable that includes a front-mounted tray loading CD Player.
Philips

A vinyl and CD combo

That’s right, the Philips Fidelio FT1 is more than just a turntable — it’s a CD player, too. Located on its front panel is a front-loading tray for your CDs.

This way, you can use the same system to play both vinyl records and CDs (not at the same time, of course), allowing the Fidelio FT1 to cater to fans of both physical media formats.

It’s probably not a turntable for purists of either format, but it’s still pretty cool nonetheless.

Black Philips turntable with a transparent dust cover open, featuring a circular platter, tonearm with cartridge, control buttons, and a digital clock display showing 12:38.
The turntable features a built-in phono preamp, allowing it to work with a pair of powered speakers.
Philips

The turntable itself is a belt-drive with a built-in phono preamplifier. It features a heavy die-cast aluminum platter, an extruded aluminum tone arm with an adjustable counterweight and a replaceable Audio-Technica MM stylus.

On the turntable’s front panel is a dimmable LED display that shows key information, such as the source and volume level. It can also function as a digital clock when the FT1 isn’t being used.

Two black Philips Fidelio speakers are shown, one with the front grille removed revealing a tweeter and a woofer, and the other with the grille on. Both have a sleek, modern design with a small indicator light at the bottom front.
The FA3 are wireless active speakers designed to look like and work with the Fidelio FT1 turntable.
Philips

Just add (powered) speakers

The fact the FT1 has a built-in phono preamp means that you can hook it up directly to a pair of powered speakers … like the FA3, which the brand is launching alongside the FT1.

The FA3 is a pair of wireless active speakers that match the minimalist all-black design of the FT1. Each speaker features bi-amplification and an active crossover for, according to the brand, “precise delivery of 2 x 50W RMS power into a 5” glass fibre bass/mid driver and a 1” titanium tweeter.”

Black Philips Fidelio turntable with a transparent dust cover open, flanked by two black Fidelio speakers, one with a fabric cover and the other showing the speaker drivers. The turntable has a digital clock display on the front.
The Fidelio FT1 turntable and FA3 wireless speakers can be purchased separately or as a complete hi-fi system.
Philips

The Fidelio FT1 has a couple of other neat tricks for modern audio enthusiasts. It supports traditional wired playback (via its RCA inputs), but it also supports Bluetooth 5.4. This means it can stream vinyl or CD audio over Bluetooth to your wireless headphones or speakers.

The turntable also supports Auracast, allowing it to stream audio to multiple Auracast-compatible devices simultaneously.

Finally, there’s also a 3.5mm headphone jack, in case you want to simply enjoy a more traditional private listening session.

Price and availability

Philips hasn’t revealed pricing information for either its Fidelio FT1 turntable or FA3 wireless active speakers just yet. However, it is positioning them both as “premium affordable components,” which makes me think neither will be that expensive.

Both turntable and speakers will be available “in the first quarter of 2026.” You’ll be able to purchase them separately or together.  

About the Author:

Tucker Bowe has been on Gear Patrol’s editorial team since 2014. As a Tech Staff Writer, he tracks everything in the consumer tech space, from headphones to smartphones, wearables to home theater systems. If it lights up or makes noise, he probably covers it.

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